Play Testers Wanted Pt. 05

"No time like the present." I said. "If I don't come back it has been great."

"Where ya going Ghost?" One of the patrons asked.

"I need to fix things between me and Reed. This shit has got to end." I declared.

"Tell that to Namor." Otto laughed. "He is still sore about the Atlantean banging Susan."

"I have to try." I stated and tipped Otto before leaving.

I switched into street clothes and left the bar. A cab was waiting. The driver none other than Harry Canyon. He must be my personal cabbie.

"Hey Harry!" I said as I got into the back.

"Oh hey, you are May's friend. Are you dating Gwen?" He asked as he pulled away from the curb.

"Yeah, I suppose I am." I replied and he gave me a curious look.

"Well bud if you aren't sure then you'd better ask her." Harry laughed. "Where to?"

"Baxter Building."

The drive through the city was relaxing. As the taxi navigated through the traffic, I tried to figure out how to approach Reed so that I could repair some of the damage. Harry's taxi pulled up in front of the office building I paid and got out. I felt a moment of dizziness when I heard Archimedes' voice in my head. I guess the link was still there just unused.

"Hello Ghost." The A.I. said in greeting.

"Man have I missed you." I told him. "I am here to see Reed."

"I have been reduced for the lack of your company." Archimedes stated in his clinical fashion.

"Will he see me?" I asked and the front door of the building opened on its own. "Archimedes... where is Reed?"

I stepped into the lobby and an elevator was waiting for me. I crossed the lobby to the elevator and entered it with a laugh. When Archimedes asked me what was humorous, I hinted about having sex in one with Black Widow... and then corrected that and brought up Mystique's name.

"You had coitus with a shapeshifter!" The A.I. exclaimed. "Aw man! I missed it."

The elevator reached the penthouse and there was a distinct silence permeating it. No, that wasn't true, there was a deep low throb in my bones, but the vibration was in the infrasound range far below the threshold of human hearing. It was easy to track down the source. I went in the direction that hurt the most. It led me to Reed's main lab and the source was a large ten-foot square flat plane. The space within was chaotic and constantly shifting.

"Archimedes what the hell am I looking at?"

"It is a portal into the Negative Zone! Reed in his madness opened it and went after a way of proving himself to Susan Richards." The A.I. explained. "He hasn't returned."

"How long has he been gone?" I asked as I went through the notes Reed had left behind.

"It depends on perspective. For him it has been a week."

"A week!" I exclaimed and then remembered what he said about perspective. "And for us?"

"Thirty minutes." Archimedes declared. "If Reed's calculations are correct of course. Why are you here Ghost Fire?"

"I wanted to clear the air between Reed and me. I hate having this cloud hanging over both of us." I told him and I felt the A.I.'s amusement through the link we shared.

"Reed was going to seek you out when he returned from the Zone. He had made something for you as a gift. Some people go shopping, or white poems, Reed has always been a tinkerer. Go to the northwest quadrant of the lab." He directed me and I followed his instruction. "I will open the drawer."

"Ooh, it is a belt of some kind." I commented as Archimedes told me its capabilities.

"It is Richards Patent Pending Gravity Belt." The A.I. said quite proudly.

"What does it do?"

"It allows you improve your leaps, acrobatics, and even soften falls from great heights." Archimedes listed off its abilities. "You'd better practice with it before venturing into the Negative Zone, if that is your plan."

"Well, if he is trapped, someone has to go after him. I figure my odds are better in there than taking on Dr. Doom on his home territory." I muttered. "Okay. Let's put this bad boy on and see what it can do."

I equipped the belt and checked out my stats and skills. I let out a whistle when I saw what it did to my agility, dodge, and acrobatics. Sweet! I checked it for traps, tampering, or tinkering. I was still paranoid about Reed's sudden reversal. We hadn't talked and yet here was a device he had built for me, or had he?

"Archimedes, do I have access to you again?" I asked.

"Of course, you do." He replied. "What do you wish to know?"

"I'd like to see the history of this device. Can you show me when and how it was constructed?"

A holographic screen appeared, and a huge list of files appeared. I asked him to show the dates of file creation and sure enough the belt had been finished two years ago and only recently pulled it out and powered it up. The exterior had been redesigned to fit my armor style. Technically he hadn't built it for me and yet he had tailored it for me. The thought was there, but what was behind it? It didn't matter, Reed might be trapped in the Negative Zone. I wasn't a hero, but I owed the guy the attempt.

"Creating digital clone." Archimedes intoned. "Stripping Fantastic Protocols and assigning Ghost Fire as primary user. Rebooting clone... checking stability... clone is a go."

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I wanted to go but I am programmed to stay here. I have created a personalized clone of myself that answers only to you. I have returned it to factory settings as it were. The clone requires a name."

"What is its gender?" I asked.

"It is currently gender neutral. You can assign one or not, that is entirely up to you."

"Where is it stored?" I asked.

"I loaded it into your armor. The vibranium weave is a perfect storage device for it." Archimedes explained.

"Hmm...?" I paused thinking about it and the window changed and gave me choices. "That's better. Let's see... female yes... nationality accent... wow, so many choices. Irish? Japanese? American Southern? Let's go with Irish. Personality. Bubbly... hell no! Clinical... nah. Jovial... sure why not. Attitude? Oh. Sneaky... definitely sneaky. Moral determination. White or gray? Gray. I don't need her asking me all the time if she should be doing whatever I need from her. Strong suits... combat, stealth, security, magic, and uh tactical support. That's a great start. Oh yeah, a name. Something short and sexy. Gianna. Seka. Haley. Traci."

"You are listing off the name of porn stars." Archimedes said disapprovingly.

"Traci it is." I said just to spite him.

"Fine... accessing vocal patterns for Traci Lords... adjusting for Irish accent. Done." My A.I. spoke in my ear. "Traci is now online... lover."

"Dear god!" Archimedes wept.

"Get over it," Traci fired back. "Let's go and get this over with."

"Took the words out of my mouth." I added as I approached the portal to the Negative Zone.

"Speaking of your mouth..." Traci giggled. "...later."

I activated the Gravity Belt and leapt into the alien dimension. The psychic shock was alarming. I felt like I was a stone sending out ripples to anyone capable of listening. I hovered near the threshold. I tapped into the lab's transponder and got a good strong signal. If the portal was open, I could find my way back. I activated the belt and willed myself forward. The device fired off a blast of coherent gravitons behind me thrusting me forward. I wasn't prepared and tumbled end over end. I guess I should have trained with the damn thing. Traci laughed her ass off but quickly corrected my course and I was flying relatively straight.

"Jeez, I hope no one was watching us. That was so embarrassing!" Traci whispered.

"How are we going to track Reed?" I asked.

"He has a machine/brain interface just like you. We just need to lock onto that." She explained. "Well fuck, that can't be right. He is behind us. One thousand meters and moving towards the portal. Reorienting."

Mr. Fantastic was framed against the portal and screaming at me.

"You fucked my wife! I'll teach you a lesson! Tell you what, you survive one year here, and I'll open the portal again and let you out. Until then... buh-bye!"

It was useless to scream. The light from the other side vanished as the portal closed.

"Fuck!" Traci cursed and I laughed. "You are awful chipper. Do you know the odds of surviving that long? I do and it isn't good."

I was about to fire off a snarky reply when I felt something. It was fear. Someone was nearby and I slowly got the hand of subtle orientation shifts with the belt. The Negative Zone was like being in outer space except it had a breathable atmosphere and a moderate temperature. It was also littered with pockets of stellar debris that was akin to our own solar system's asteroid field. It was time to focus and find out who was in trouble. With Traci's help I made it to a particularly large asteroid. It was big enough to have microgravity. I had to pull myself across its surface, but I found what looked like a cave. The waves of distress were coming from within. I tried using a lighter touch with the belt to propel myself into the cave without blasting in like a missile. It worked. A gentle nudge later and I found the cell. I was shocked by what I found.

"Susan! Jennifer!" I exclaimed. "Hold on, I'll get you out!"

I ignited my weapon and cut through the cell door's lock with ease. At least some of the laws of physics I was accustomed to still functioned here. The Storm Sisters rushed out and we embraced. Like me, Archimedes had lured them into the Negative Zone and trapped them here. They knew far more about the geography and culture of this place than I did. There were native inhabitants and multiple tyrants vying for control of the zone. The truth was that much of it was unexplored. Our survival meant finding allies and a way back to our world.

"Maybe Latveria was the lesser of two evils." I muttered as we sat on the surface of the asteroid.

"Latveria!" Susan exclaimed. "What is going on there?"

I told her all about the murders and the destroyed doombots. I left out how I found out about them. Her expression showed the keen mind of Susan Storm working on the problem. While Reed was a genius Susan had common sense coupled with an acute intellect, she also knew Latveria's security as well as Mr. Fantastic. She listed off all the types of sensors and measures that would have to be bypassed or defeated to walk freely in a land that knew only oppression for so many years. The Negative Zone wasn't much different. Its entire history was one of darkness, warlords, and constant conflict.

"Any ideas how we get back?" I queried the twins.

"Without Reed's portal there are few natural avenues out." Susan said. "Listen Ghost, we need to clear up some things. How many times have we hooked up?"

"Um... dozens." I said after remembering each encounter.

"Lots." Jennifer corrected and Susan narrowed her eyes at her sister.

"You snuck behind my back again." Susan frowned as she pushed on. "If either of us was in a satisfying relationship do you think we'd have tagged teamed you and fucked you rotten?"

"Unlikely, though I do like the way you graphically describe our liaisons." I chuckled.

"He's got you there sis." Jennifer laughed. "Admit it, Ghost really likes spending time with us."

"Trust me," Susan purred. "The feeling is mutual. I just wanted you to understand and not feel guilty."

"Guilt no, I came here to try and smooth things out with Reed. I can see that is impossible. We need to survive and get out of here. Um... since you sort of brought it up." I said and they both looked at me. "Have either of you... well... done it here in the Negative Zone?" I asked and the shared a glance and smiled. "Good! Let's get our bearings and when things aren't so bleak maybe we can notch that one off the list."

"I love the way you think!" Jennifer giggled as Susan gave her a look. "He said after and once. Let's get going."

I used my web shooters to form tow lines so that we didn't drift apart. The very nature of the zone was disorientating. The short time we had talked the asteroid we were on had drifted away from the space where the portal had appeared. The strange physics of the zone made navigation a bitch. Some asteroids were attracted to each other due to mass and gravity while others were repelled like magnets with the same charge, and others seemed unaffected by either and moved unthwarted. Was it any wonder that planets or any kind of large celestial bodies rarely formed?

Traci drew up what little data she had on the Negative Zone and its inhabitants. While we maneuvered our way out of the asteroid field, I felt another psychic tug. I ignored it for now because the direction we were going was causing it to diminish.

"Aw hell, hold on tight we are changing direction." I cursed as I headed towards the pulses of energy.

"Why are we changing direction Ghost?" Susan asked.

"I feel another psychic tug." I said. "The first one was the two of you."

"You think someone is in distress?" Jennifer asked.

"I don't know. This one feels different." I told them. "Yours felt like anguish and pain. This one is more of a beacon. There is no real emotion attached to it. If that makes any sense."

"We trust your judgement." Jennifer offered. "It could be someone in trouble or it could be a stable spot in this mess."

"Let's find out." Susan encouraged me and off we went.

"It is getting stronger. Can you hear it yet?" I asked but neither of them heard the rhythmic pulse. "At least we left those asteroids behind. Hold on, what is that?"

"It looks like a guard post." Susan said. "Slow down. Let's take it slow from here."

"My suit has stealth capabilities. Let me do some reconnaissance and I'll come back and tell you what I find." I offered, but they wanted to stick together.

"You provide the propulsion and I can hide all of us." Susan counteroffered.

"Okay, hold on."

They each took a hand and Susan surrounded us in a bubble of invisibility. It was indeed a small military outpost. It didn't possess heavy fortifications and appeared to be a watch tower. We landed on the surface of the repurposed asteroid and investigated. The tower had an organic feel to its architecture. Susan explained that one of the sentient races were like Earth insects, but much larger, self-aware, and aggressive. Jenny stayed back to cover our retreat if things went bad. Susan slipped unseen up the inner spiral staircase while I flew to the top of the tower and entered via a walkway that ran all the way around the circumference of the top floor. The solitary guard was speaking to one of his comrades via a communication screen.

"...tell him that I am sorry? I have learned from my mistake. No one comes out here. I have been here for twelve cycles... please! The ruin isn't going anywhere, and no one can enter the damn thing!"

"I will try again Charull, but don't hold your breath. Annihilus isn't the forgiving sort. You are lucky he deemed to let you live." The other insect replied.

"Well, at least I have a trophy to pass onto my brood." Charull bragged as he held up an elegantly crafted dagger in a leather sheath. "One day Karull, my eldest, will carry this into battle against Blastaar and his pathetic rabble."

I studied the craftsmanship of the dagger's hilt and it wasn't made for an insect. Besides it was far too nice for someone like Charull or any of them. A sudden jealous rage welled up inside of me. The moment the call was ended I struck the insect thing from behind. I drew, activated, and cut down Charull all in one smooth series of actions. His corpse settled to the floor and I claimed the dagger.

"Ghost!" Susan exclaimed dropping her invisibility. "How could you?! He was defenseless."

"I felt this sudden rage." I told her trying to explain.

"I forgot to warn you." She said and I could see guilt on her lovely features. "We encountered it on several of our mapping missions. It isn't called the Negative Zone for nothing. It often brings out our darker nature, so we must be on guard. What did you take from him?"

"It is a dagger." I said pulling it from its sheath. "I've never seen this alloy before." I told her before I fell silent. The runic characters decorating the weapon were all too familiar.

"What is it? Have you seen that language before?" Susan asked. "All clear sis, come on up."

Jenny arrived wrapped in emerald flame. The zone altered her normal cobalt blue flames and shifted them to the green end of the spectrum. She made a face when she saw the corpse of the insect.

"I wish I had access to Archimedes," Susan stated annoyed.

"Traci, can you scan the knife and give me a complete breakdown?" I said revealing for the first time of the A.I.'s existence. "Archimedes gave me a tailored clone of himself."

"Sure, thing lover bear." Traci moaned in our collective comm links.

"She sounds like... fun." Jenny giggled.

"Alloy is like Uru metal used by the Asgardians. It is denser and the force required to break it is outrageous. The lettering is unknown. I will attempt to translate but it could take a very long time. I have nothing in my memory that even approaches this configuration."

"Thank you, Traci." I said and wondered if I should share with them that I was a dark elf and that the knife was clearly from that culture. Had they visited the Negative Zone? "A real mystery. Have you seen anything like this before?" I asked as I added the knife to my inventory. It was tagged as dark elf dagger, but its damage and abilities were unknown.

"Once." Susan said. "During our third romp here a piece of debris slammed into our vehicle. Ben lost his shit and we stopped to check the damage and see what hit us. The stone obelisk had characters like that. Reed scanned its surface and composition. The stone was from the zone, but the letters weren't. He never spoke of it ever again."

"How often did you explore the zone?" I asked.

"Once a year at the most. The detrimental effects of... oh you clever man you! You think that little mystery haunted Reed and he spent time here. That might explain his decline." Susan stated as she picked up on my line of thought.

"I am not saying it is, but if fits the symptoms." I stated and then continued. "I am sorry for killing the guard. That isn't like me."

"We know." The sisters said in one voice and then laughed.

"Want to get to the bottom of this?" I asked and the burning desire to see this to the end was clear. "Let's go."

"Can you tie me up... I mean do that lifeline thing?" Jennifer asked blushing furiously.

"Later!" Susan snapped angrily. "Sorry. I hate this damn place!"

We searched the tower for supplies as water and food were scarce within the confines of the zone. The protein squares were edible, but the water was tainted with dangerous levels of contaminants. Susan showed off a trick she had learned during a survival training mission. She created a large sphere shaped forcefield. She was able to extract the moisture from the air. It took a few times to get enough to fill two containers. While I could eat, I no longer required food or water. Jennifer eagerly offered to feed me. I nicked her neck and lapped at the wound until my saliva healed it. It wasn't much but it would suffice. Jennifer's reaction to it was erotically profound. She looked like she had climaxed, and it must have been a good one. Susan put us back on mission and soon we were off to the edge of the Negative Zone. Time was impossible to judge. There were no sunrises or sunsets. We went for as long as we could maintain our stamina. We took breaks and rationed our food. Susan and I provided water and it felt like the breaks were coming more often. The zone was winning.

"Captain's Log. This is our thirty second break. The food cubes are running low even though we have been rationing them from the beginning. This portion of the Negative Zone is particularly oppressive. I have run out of jokes, but on the positive side the signal I have been following has changed since our last break. It has become more complex and I think there are words within it now. I think we are almost there. More later. Captain out."